Duskfire Glacier everyone hail to the pumpkin song

The children were fighting again. It seemed to be all that they ever did, while Arius was paying more attention to the pumpkins, and then the various adults who tried to intervene. He knew better than to get in the way of Makatza and whatever she had decided to target; besides, there were enough adults around to handle her if necessary. He wasn't worried.

When Veteran plunged his paws in to the mess of pumpkin innards, Arius scowled a little and withdrew. He had barely turned away from the display when a glob of orange guts went flinging straight for the dark girl, so he did not see it land, but there came a tense silence from Makatza and then one of the adults - a threadbare looking young man - moved to intervene.

The boy sighed and stepped further away. It was easy to be in the background among all these personable children, watching them and watching the adults, as he was quite skilled at being quiet. He left his pumpkin abandoned for someone else to check out if they wanted, rather than get in the way of the petty squabbling.

That was when he saw Ensio's face: a toothy snarl, one that made him look all the more like Makatza as they both shared dark faces. It wasn't frightening so much as it was disheartening to see, even as a necessary part of wolf behavior; it unsettled the boy, and soon he was slipping back the way he had come for the pumpkin viewing - letting them have their fun while he wandered on home to the den, or somewhere else that was less stressful to experience.